Improvement in fire-lighters



v JAMES MURPHY.

l Fire Lighter.

No, 12A-,505l Patentedmarcmz. 1872.

'Witnesses JAMES It. MURPHY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-LIGHTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 124,505, dated March12, 1872.

SPECIFICATION.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES R. MURPHY, of Chicago, in .the county of Cookand State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful AutomaticFire-Lighters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others Vskilledin the art to which my invention appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing forining a. part of thisspecilication, in which- Figure l represents a side elevation of arelighter provided with my improvements, the cylinder being broken awayso as to show the mechanism within it. Fig. 2 represents a lon gitudinalvertical central sectional view through the sliding-rod. Fig. 3represents a vertical transverse sectional view taken at the line a' inFig. 1, and shows the screw and rounded nut in the slot in that part ofthe clamp; and Fig. 4 represents a rear view of Fig. l, showin g thecylinder and its attachments turned downward and sideward, in thedirection indicated by the arrows.

The object of my invention is to make an automatic lire-lighter, so thatfires in stoves or other similar places may be thereby automaticallylighted at any desired time; and my invention consists in a novelcombination and arrangement of the mechanism employed for that purpose,which will be hereafter fully described.

A is a cylinder. B is arod having free play within said cylinder. C is aspiral spring within the cylinder A and about the rod B, the

' forward end of said cylinder being provided with an annular head pieceor interior collar, a, against which one end of the spiral spring Crests, and the rod B being provided with a shoulder, b, against whichthe other end of said spring rests, the pressure of this spring beingtoward the shoulder b. D is a metallic plate attached to the forward endof the rod to the rod B. E E are yielding or exible metallic plates, andE is a piece of sandpaper lying on or attached to the plate E, and theseplates and the sand-paper are attached at their rea-r ends to the upperedge of the plate D by means of the screw d and the presser d. The plateE may be bent downward and backward at its forward end so as to form afastening for the sand-paper at that point, as shown. The inclination ofthe plate E is slightly upward from the plate D. Either of the plates Eor E may be dispensed with, and instead of the sand-paper the plateretained may have its upper surface finely corrugated, so as to ignitethe matches. F is a bent wire attached to the plate D by the screw d ata point opposite the center of the cylinder A, which wire extendshorizontally backward and is bent laterally in the direction of theheaviest side of the plate D. The rear end of the rod B is provided witha longitudinal groove, g, ter- Vminating at its rear end in a notch, g',sunken into said rod somewhat deeper than the said groove, with itsvertical face toward the latter. H is a lever or trigger having apivotal bea-ring in the standard or supporting-band It, which is rigidlyattached to the cylinder A, but so as to be removable therefrom byloosening the screw h', said supporting-band being somewhat flexible anddrawn tightly upon said cylinder by means of said screw. I is a smallpost or peg hanging vertically from pivotal bearings upon the forwardend of the trigger H and playing through a perforation in the cylinderA, so as to extend into the groove g and notch g. J is a bent armsetinto theforward end of the cylinder A so as to have ahorizontallyturning movement in its seat. The free end of the arm Jextends forward so as to reach over the rear end of the san d-paper Ewhen the peg I rests in the notch g. K is a spring-holder attached .tothe forward end of the arm J, and within this spring-holder are thespringslor notch-holders l l', having a yielding movement in alldirections. The spring-holder K may be tightened upon the'match-holdersby means of the screw 7c. Mis a clasp hanging on the arm J for thepurpose of holding a wad of paper near the match-holders l l. N is ascrewclamp, to which the cylinder A is attached by means of the claspO,` which is open at one end andsomewhat flexible, or open at both ends,and in either ease it is drawn firmly about the cylinder A and clamp Nby means of the screws a a', so as to hold the said clamp and cylinderrmly in any position, said clamp and cylinder being capa-ble of beingturned or moved laterally in the jawsof the clasp O. The lower end ofthe clamp N is provided with alongitudinal slot, P, with guide-ways o p.p is a stop-bar across the upper outer corner of the clamp N. Q is arounded nutI upon the screw Q', which nut rides in the slot I), beingretained therein by the guides p and bar p. The outer under corner otthe clamp N may be rounded ot'tl so that the screw Q may be set in theposition shown by the dotted lines in Fig. l. It is a nut on the screw Qto keep the latter from tipping in the direction of its horizontallnovement until itreaches the rounded end of the clamp N. S is astove-hearth, and T is a stove-grate containing the material to belighted.

M y device is operated in the following manner: Most stove-hearths havea beveled or corniced edge silnilar to that represented in the d rawin.The screw Q is turned in the position shown by the dotted lines inFig. 1. The clamp device N is then set over the edge of the hearth sothat the match-holders l l are brought near or beneath the grate. Thescrew QA is then turned in a vertical position, and a few turns ot' thescrew-head clamps the whole device to the hearth, matches having beenplaced in the match-holders l l so that the prepared ends cf the matchesare in contact, or nearly in contact, with the rear end of thesandpaper, the rod B having been previously set by being drawn forwarduntil the pin I sets in the notch g. A wad of paper is placed in theclasp M so as to reach to or beneath the grate. The rear end of thetrigger H is then pressed down until the pin I is released from thenotch g', when the force of the spring C throws the rod B back suddenlyandthe m atches are ignited, the iiame being` communicated to thecontents of the grate by means ot the paper in the clasp M. rIhe slot gand the shoulder of the rod B, in which it is cut, are ol' such a lengththat `just before the plate D reaches the cylinder A the pin I drops ontof the slot and over the edge of said shoulder 5 the weighted side ofthe plate D then turns over the rod C so that the sandpaper isturneddownward and protected from the lire. The bent wire F is auxiliaryto the weighted side of the plate D, and by striking the rod J assiststo reverse the sand-paper and throw the plates E E into the positionshown by the dotted lines in the forward part of Fig. 1. Vhen nosand-paper is used these plates need not be thus turned. The matches areprevented from being broken by too great or uneven friction by means ofthe flexibility ofthe match-holders and the plates E E. When thedistance between the stove-hearth and the grate is not sufficient toadmit ofthe lighter being placed upon the stove in a vertical position,as shown in Fig. l, the cylinderA with its attachments may be placed inthe position shown in Fig. 4.

In order to make my device automatic in its operation I attach a cord orwire having a downward tension to the outer end ot' the trigger H. rIhiscord or wire may then be passed over a bell-crank or other similardevice to cha-nge its direction. it necessary, and then attached to analarm-clock or other operatin g power, so that the lighter may bethereby operated at any desired time;

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The arm J provided with one or more yielding match-holders, Z, incombination with the inclined flexible and sliding` friction-plate E,substantially as and for the purposes specitied.

2. The combination ot' the supporting or friction plate E, notched rodB, lever H, and spring C, substantially as and for the purposespeciiied.

3. In combination with the supporting or friction plate E, lever I'I,and spring C, the grooved and notched rod B, substantially as and forthe purpose shown and described.

4. In combination with the sliding rod B, groove g, and pin I, theweighted plate D and the bent wire F, or either, substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

5. In an automatic tire-lighter, the combina tion ot' the cylinder A,clamp N, and clasp O, substantially as and for the purpose speciiied.

6. In combination with the slotted clamp N, the rounded nut 0 and screwQ', substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

The foregoing specification signed by me this 21st day ot- November, A.D. 1571.

JAMES It. MURPHY.

Witnesses:

F. II. BROWN, FRANCIS F. VARNER.

